Concrete Angel
by Swimmerkitti
Summary: Songfic, and a one shot. Takes places as the kids are 9 years old. Also, the whole thing with Dewey never happens. Or if you want, it happens differently. But what happens when Summer finds someone just like her?


Decided to try my hand at this...hope it isn't horribly cliché! Read and review please! This is a one shot, so I won't be continuing it. Also I don't own any of this, yadda yadda. Hope you like it!_

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She walks to school with a lunch she packed  
Nobody knows what she's holding back  
Wearing the same dress she wore yesterday  
She hides the bruises with the linen and lace

A clear, crisp fall morning, nine year old Summer Hathaway walked to her elementary school in New York, Horace Green Prep. She was a petite little girl, raven hair perfectly framing her face. Ruby red lips and warm brown eyes graced her features. Her uniform, though unwashed for several days, was kept clean as new.

She took a deep breath as she stepped through the door, wincing a bit as her ribs ached in a painful reminder of last night. If only her mother would stop drinking. But Summer was determined to become better than that. She would not let her mother curb her success. _  
  
The teacher wonders but she doesn't ask  
It's hard to see the pain behind the mask  
Bearing the burden of a secret storm  
Sometimes she wishes she was never born_

Class started soon afterward, Summer staying silent yet attentive. She was the top student in her class. But her teacher, Miss Hawthorne thought it strange how Summer's parents never attended anything, what with their daughter being so bright. Summer was only allowed to go to field trips because teachers felt pity that her mother never responded, and Summer was always such a good kid.

"Here you go Summer, another A," the young teacher smiled at her as she passed papers back. Summer weakly smiled back, reaching up to take the paper. As she raised her arm, her sleeve fell down a little bit, revealing a purplish bruise on her arm. She quickly took the paper and went back to reading.

Miss Hawthorne paused, and opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it. Maybe it was better she let one of her superiors get involved. The thoughts were pushed from her mind though, as she was alerted by the sound of a blonde little kid, Freddy, and another kid, Frankie, in a fistfight.

Summer looked over to the rest of the kids as the teacher rushed over to separate them. _How nice it must be to have friends…_ Summer thought to herself. For she was all alone in her own world, where she used all her strength to stay strong and independent every single day. But she never noticed the boy sitting across the aisle who had been looking at Summer, and noticed her bruise. _  
  
Through the wind  
And the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams   
Give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
Concrete angel_

Later in the afternoon, Summer was walking herself home as usual, when she was stopped in front of her sidewalk. She heard panting behind her, and she was frightened since she was the only kid who lived on this street.

She turned around to see one of her classmates running toward her. He had chocolate brown eyes, and brown hair as well. His eyes looked familiar to Summer, but she didn't quite know why. Maybe because they mirrored the same emotion: pain.

Zack stopped Summer by placing a hand on her shoulder. They were now standing face to face, unaware that an angry face was peering out through her window.

Summer started to speak, but before she could ask, he shushed her by removing his hand from her shoulder and placing a finger over her lips. He pulled up his sleeve, revealing bruises and cuts. He pulled his shirt up a bit, so she could see a scar he possessed. Summer couldn't believe what she was seeing. Was it really possible that someone else understood what she was like?

"You too?" Summer innocently asked.

He shyly nodded before speaking. "I think we should be friends."

Summer was smiling now. "So do I."

He stepped in closer to her, and much to her surprise, he hugged her before running off again.

_Somebody cries in the middle of the night  
The neighbors hear but they turn out the light  
A fragile soul caught in the hands of fate  
When morning comes it'll be too late _

Summer, who was smiling for the first time in a long time, quickly shut the door behind her so no cold air got in her warm house. She went to lay her backpack by the door, but found the space was already occupied by someone standing there. Her mother. The smile erased from her face instantly.

"Who was that Summer? Hm? Mind telling me what he hell that was about?" Mrs. Hathaway said, stepping nearer to Summer.

Summer gulped. She knew what was coming. At least, she thought she knew.

"Nothing, Mom. He's just a friend, that's all-"

"Since when do you have friends?" her mother asked in an icy tone. "Rotten little bitch, he knows about it now, doesn't he?" She smacked Summer across the face, making her lip bleed.

Summer glared back defiantly. "He's my friend. And someone deserves to know. Because I don't deserve this."

Summer's mother glared at her scornfully before unleashing a terror Summer never knew before. Alcohol had ruined Mrs. Hathaway's life…and it was now destroying Summer's.

Her last conscious thought, as her mother slammed the door and left the house, was of her newest and only friend. _Zack…  
  
Through the wind  
And the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams   
Give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
Concrete angel_

The next morning, Zack Mooneyham knocked on Summer's door. He wanted to walk her to school. He wanted to be with her.

After a few minutes of knocking with no avail, he tried the knob and was surprised to find it open. "Summer?" he called, stepping through the doorway. A few feet further and his heart skipped a beat as the gruesome sight met him.

Summer was propped up against a chair in the kitchen, blood smearing the once immaculate white tile. Zack instantly rushed over to her. For all the younger he was, he knew something horrible had happened.

"Summer?" he whispered. "Wake up…c'mon, wake up, for me, please!" He held her hand, and started crying, right there on the floor. _Why did this have to happen to Summer…what did she ever do to anybody?_

Summer's eyes flickered open, brightening her tear stained face. "Zack? Call the school. Call 911. Call anyone. Tell them what happened. Tell them how she killed me…please."

"Don't joke like that Summer, don't talk like that! You're going to be fine. We'll be best friends, forever and ever. I mean it." he said with the innocence only a child can obtain.

Summer weakly smiled, one last time. "Thank you Zack. Thank you for showing me that I'm not alone. Just don't let your dad do this to you too. You're too good a person for that, you deserve to be loved. Thank you…"

Her eyes flickered shut for a final time before Zack stumbled blindly through the tears to find a phone. He couldn't bring himself to look at Summer again. He slowly dialed the number and followed the emergency instructions he had been told about since kindergarten…_  
  
A statue stands in a shaded place  
An angel girl with a nocturne face  
A name is written on a polished rock  
A broken heart that the world forgot_

A week later, after Summer's funeral, two people stood at the side of her grave, hugging each other tightly. The wind whipped around them, chilling them to the bone. Dry leaves were scattered everywhere, and death was grim upon the air. But also, there was a feeling of hope.

"Miss Hawthorne?" a sniffling Zack asked his teacher. "Why'd this have to happen to Summer? She never did anything bad to anyone…it's not fair."

The woman smiled sadly. "Zack, sometimes people have to go to a better place. Mrs. Hathaway was a horrible woman, and we didn't notice until it was too late. At least we were able to save you." The teacher paused. "Summer was a brave girl, you know."

It was now Zack's turn to smile. "Yeah, she was, wasn't she. I hope she knows that she is loved…"  
  
_Through the wind  
And the rain  
She stands hard as a stone  
In a world that she can't rise above  
But her dreams   
Give her wings  
And she flies to a place where she's loved  
Concrete angel

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So what did you think? Review please, and check out my other fics!


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